How things can change in a single weekend.
Before this past weekend, Utah freshman Zoe Johnson was fairly unknown, save for die-hard college gymnastics fans, but after the Salt Lake City regional, the North Carolina native is now a household name among even the most casual of fans.
Two vaults, one in the regional semifinals and another in the regional final, changed everything — for Johnson, but also for Utah.
What happened with Zoe Johnson?
Johnson was the breakout star for the Red Rocks during the Salt Lake City regional, her vault in both of Utah’s meets among the greatest highlights.
In the semifinals on Thursday against Denver, Stanford and BYU, Johnson stuck her Yurchenko 1.5 for the first time in her collegiate career — in only her fourth meet competing it, too.
That in and of itself was encouraging. Utah, and really any team in the country, needs as many stuck 10.0-valued vaults as it can get.
But Johnson then took things a step further. In the regional final on Saturday night against UCLA, Denver and Minnesota, Johnson again stuck her vault, this time with good enough overall form to tie for the event title.
She became one of only two Utah gymnasts this season to stick their vault in back-to-back meets, joining junior Makenna Smith.
And though Johnson’s vault in the regional final didn’t actually guarantee that Utah would advance to the nationals for a 49th time — the Red Rocks had clinched a top two finish in the meet before Johnson competed — it felt like it to the thousands in the arena.
Where was Zoe Johnson all season?
That Johnson pulled off back-to-back stuck vaults in the most pressure-packed meets of the season to date begs the question — where was she all year?
Utah’s vault lineup has been good this year, though not great. The Red Rocks entered the postseason ranked No. 6 in the country on the event but hadn’t competed at the level of LSU, Florida, Oklahoma and Michigan State.
That is largely because the Red Rocks haven’t consistently stuck their vaults, despite Smith, Ashley Glynn, Avery Neff and Ella Zirbes all proving capable at times.
In other words, Utah could have used Johnson all season. Unfortunately, the freshman’s first season in Utah was derailed a little by a back injury in the preseason.
While it ultimately was not too serious — she missed the Red Rocks Preview but nothing else — it nonetheless affected Johnson’s ability to train, and not getting to train as much as she anticipated then affected her confidence.
“I feel like I didn’t get to do as many numbers as I had hoped,” Johnson said, “so when it was time for season, I just wasn’t as confident in my goals.”
Early in the year, Johnson was absent from lineups and even exhibitions, but slowly she started to get onto the competition floor. She exhibitioned on vault and floor against Arizona in early February, though she competed just a Yurchenko Full on vault, which has a start value of 9.95.
She then got into the lineup on floor against Denver and struggled, going out of bounds at the end of a tumbling pass. Against Washington she exhibitioned on floor again and then against UCLA she was in the vault lineup and debuted her Yurchenko 1.5.
Johnson hasn’t left the vault lineup since that meet, even though she fell at the Big 12 championships.
It was a long journey and not close to what many expected for Johnson when she signed with Utah as a five-star prospect, one of the top eight in the country in the 2024 class.
As Utah head coach Carly Dockendorf tells it, Johnson struggled a bit with the transition to college gymnastics beyond just the back injury.
Behind much of Johnson’s slow start to her career, Dockendorf said, was how she went from being the best gymnast at her club gym to just one of 16 great gymnasts at Utah.
“She expressed a few weeks ago, ‘I’ve always been competitive, but I kind of lost a bit of that edge since I got here,‘” Dockendorf said. ”I think that happens sometimes when you’re used to being the best in your gym and then you arrive here and everybody’s really good.
“I think it took a little bit for her get her confidence back, to remind herself that she’s really good, too.”
Johnson agrees.
“I just didn’t have a lot of confidence in myself,” she said.
She credits Dockendorf, Utah assistant coach Mike Hunger and her teammates with helping her find it again, especially on vault.
“I feel like my teammates and coaches have really helped me with that,” Johnson said. “They told me all the time that I should be confident because I am really great, not just as an athlete but as a person.
“They’d tell me that I just needed to see it. I feel like that really helped me.”
What to expect from Zoe Johnson
Johnson came to Utah with a notable pedigree. Here’s a quick rundown of her most notable achievements prior to her arrival at Utah:
- 2024 Level 10 national championships runner-up on vault.
- 2024 Region 8 championships winner all-around, vault, bars.
- 2024 Region 8 championships third-place on floor.
- 2022 Level 10 national champion on uneven bars.
- Finished fourth in the all-around at the Level 10 national championships in 2022 and 2023.
- 2024 Nastia Liukin Cup fourth-place finish on vault.
- 2020 Nastia Liukin Cup runner-up on beam.
- 2020 Nastia Liukin Cup third-place finish on bars and fourth place in the all-around.
Johnson was honorable mention before the season in College Gym News’ series looking at the most anticipated freshmen — on floor and vault, but also in the all-around.
Exclude Avery Neff, and Johnson was the prize of Utah’s 2024 class, a group that included Canadian elite Clara Raposo and British elite Poppy-Grace Stickler.
The point being, nearly everyone believed Johnson was a future star for the Red Rocks, and that has proven true, if only on vault for now.
After regionals, Johnson even drew comparisons to Jaedyn Rucker from some Utah fans; high praise, given Rucker’s history on vault at Utah (she is tied for first all-time in program history with three perfect 10s and is one of only five national champions on vault all-time for Utah).
There is more to come from Johnson though. She genuinely believes that.
“I definitely have, like, a little bit more still (to give),” Johnson told the Deseret News last month. “Still more in me gymnastics-wise.”
